Page 70 of The Union
From the short time I’d seen them together when we’d been running out of Intech, Carly seemed more in love with her work than her husband. But her marriage wasn’t my concern or business.
Tripp’s phone went off, and he glanced at the screen. “We’ll continue this conversation in the morning.” He rose. “I’ll escort you to the men’s barracks. There’ll be a guard posted outside your door, but you’ll have food and a place to rest for the night.”
“Thank you. Will I see Layla?” Junior’s tone was grateful and not as cocky as when he’d walked in.
I stood. “If she’s up for it” came out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Layla would be there now if I called her.
“I’m not saying another word unless I see her,” he said evenly.
“Layla will be there,” Tripp assured him before his voice was in my head.Get out of here and snuggle up to that woman of yours. She’s had it rough while you were in a coma.
I hated that she’d suffered while I was in a coma. It was one reason I was dying to chop off heads and slice off limbs.
I can take him to the men’s barracks,I offered telepathically.If you need to be somewhere.
Tripp gave me a no-way-in-hell look.That wouldn’t go well. Go. That’s an order.
I didn’t always follow orders. But I didn’t think twice about his command. Crawling into bed with Layla was far better than jerking Junior’s chain, and Layla might be rested enough and up for a wild night of sex. Just the thought had my dick ready to burst out of my jeans.
I saluted my lieutenant and left, wondering what the hell Junior had to tell Layla.
But Junior and the reasons he was on the premises vanished when I walked into my apartment several minutes later and spied a light spilling out of my father’s bedroom.Odd.My old man had been bunking at Jo and Webb’s house when he wasn’t at his condo in Boston.
I padded down the hall. Maybe Layla had wandered into his room. She’d talked about wanting to take a hot bath, but the only tub in the three-bedroom penthouse, as Jo called it, was in the en suite tucked into my father’s fortress. At one point, his hideaway had always been locked since he’d kept weapons and other precious belongings there that he didn’t want anyone going near.
I peeked in on Layla. She was curled up under the covers with one arm under the pillow and the other stretched out in the empty spot where I should be. If she wasn’t in my father’s room, my old man had to be, although Jo and Webb also had keys to the place.
I left the door to my room ajar and headed toward the light. “Pops, are you here?” No one could breach the building, let alone the apartment on the fourth floor. Besides, the closer I got, the scent of my father’s cologne drifting toward me got stronger.
The white walls of my dad’s abode were bare, the top of the dresser was empty, and the king-sized mattress was covered in a sheet. When my father had moved to Boston, he’d taken most of his belongings with him.
“Yeah, son.” He came out of the walk-in closet with a brown leather book. “I thought you were sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb you and Layla, but I had to get this out of my safe.” He stared at the scratched cover as though it held secrets to world domination.
“What’s in that book that has you frightened?” I was feeling a mixture of fear and confusion from him.
He ran a hand over the cover. “This was my father’s journal.”
I slipped my hands into my jeans pockets. “Did you have another dream about him?”
He flipped through the pages. “Not necessarily. But remember Jo’s dreams always had a black panther in them? Well, I had one tonight with the same animal. And my father had a journal where he detailed his dreams. I’m curious if he saw a black panther too.”
“Do you think he’s trying to send you another message?”
He lifted his broad shoulders. “Not sure. What are you doing up? Or rather, where’ve you been?”
I chuckled. “Just catching up on everything, but Junior Aberdeen is here.”
He stiffened. “Is Harriet?”
“I wish.” I belted out a growl. “But Tripp has the team surveilling the city cameras and local hotels.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I hate to think what Harriet would do if she found out about Layla’s pregnancy. The simple fact is, she knows Layla has vampires in her mother’s family. Harriet is sadistic enough to use that child to her benefit.”
“Over my dead body,” I mumbled, sitting on the edge of the mattress as a wave of anxiety punched me in the gut. I wasn’t cocky enough to believe Harriet wouldn’t try to nab Layla or do something as cruel as to use her own kin to her benefit. But if she succeeded in her endeavors—or tried to, anyway—I would become the predator and live up to the creature Harriet believed me to be. “Junior has a message for Layla.” I explained the rest of what Junior had said and finished with, “Junior wants to help us.”
Placing the book on the dresser just outside the closet, he leaned against the doorjamb. “Is that so?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Thoughts?”
